THE ESQUIMAUX.
Their wide Extension.--Climate of the Regions they inhabit.--Their
physical Appearance.--Their Dress.--Snow Huts.--The Kayak, or
the Baidar.--Hunting Apparatus and Weapons.--Enmity between the
Esquimaux and the Red Indian.--The “Bloody Falls.”--Chase of the
Reindeer.--Bird-catching.--Whale-hunting.--Various Stratagems
employed to catch the Seal.--The “Keep-kuttuk.”--Bear-hunting.--
Walrus-hunting.--Awaklok and Myouk.--The Esquimaux Dog.--Games
and Sports.--Angekoks.--Moral Character.--Self-reliance.--
Intelligence.--Iligliuk.--Commercial Eagerness of the
Esquimaux.--Their Voracity.--Seasons of Distress.
Of all the uncivilized nations of the globe none range over a
wider space than the Esquimaux, whose various tribes extend from
Greenland and Labrador, over all the coasts of Arctic America, to the
Aleutic chain and the extreme north-eastern point of Asia. Many are
independent, others subject to the Russian, Danish, or British rule.
In Baffin’s Bay and Lancaster Sound they accost the whale-fisher; they
meet him in the Icy Sea beyond Bering’s Straits; and while their most
southerly tribes dwell as low as the latitude of Vienna, others sojourn
as high as the 80th degree of northern latitude, and probably roam even
still higher on the still undiscovered coasts beyond--a nearness to
the pole no other race is known to reach.
The old Scandinavian settlers in Greenland expressed their dislike for
them in the contemptuous name of Skraelingers (screamers or wretches);
the seamen of the Hudson’s Bay ships, who trade annually with the
natives of Northern Labrador and the Savage Islands, have long called
them “Seymos” or “Suckemos,” names evidently derived from the cries of
“Seymo,” or “Teymo,” with which they greet the arrival of the ships;
they speak of themselves simply as “Inuit,” or men.
With few exceptions the whole of the vast region they inhabit lies
beyond the extremest limits of forest growth, in the most desolate and
inhospitable countries of the globe. The rough winds of the Polar Sea
almost perpetually blow over their bleak domains, and thus only a few
plants of the hardest nature--lichens and mosses, grasses, saxifragas,
and willows--are able to subsist there, and to afford a scanty supply
of food to a few land animals and birds. Ill indeed would it fare with
the Esquimaux, if they were reduced to live upon the niggardly produce
of the soil; but the sea, with its cetaceans and fishes, amply provides
for their wants. Thus they are never found at any considerable distance
from the ocean, and they line a considerable part of the coasts of the
Arctic seas without ever visiting the interior.
It may easily be supposed that a race whose eastern branches have for
several centuries been under the influence of the Danes and English,
while in the extreme west it has long been forced to submit to Russian
tyranny, and whose central and northern tribes rarely come into contact
with Europeans, must show some variety in its manners and mode of
life, and that the same description is not applicable in all points
to the disciples of the Moravian brothers in Labrador or Greenland,
to the Greek-Catholic Aleuts, and to the far more numerous heathen
Esquimaux of continental America, or of the vast archipelago beyond
its northern shores. Upon the whole, however, it is curious to observe
how exactly, amidst all diversity of time and place, these people
have preserved unaltered their habits and manners. The broad, flat
face, widest just below the eyes, the forehead generally narrow and
tapering upward; the eyes narrow and more or less oblique; all indicate
a Mongol or Tartar type, differing greatly from the features of the
conterminous Red Indian tribes. Their complexion, when relieved from
smoke and dirt, also approaches more nearly to white than that of their
copper-colored neighbors. Most of the men are rather under the medium
English size, but they can not be said to be a dwarfish race. Thus
Simpson saw in Camden Bay three Esquimaux who measured from five feet
ten inches to six feet; and among the natives of Smith Strait, Kane, a
rather short man, met with one a foot taller than himself. The females,
however, are all comparatively short. The Esquimaux are all remarkably
broad-shouldered, and though their muscles are not so firm as those of
the European seamen, yet they surpass in bodily strength all the other
natives of America. In both sexes the hands and feet are remarkably
small and well-formed. From exercise in hunting the seal and walrus,
the muscles of the arms and back are much developed in the men, who are
moreover powerful wrestlers. When young, the Esquimaux looks cheerful
and good-humored, and the females exhibit, when laughing, a set of
very white teeth. Could they be induced to wash their faces, many of
these savage beauties would be found to possess a complexion scarcely
a shade darker than that of a deep brunette; but though disinclined
to ablutions, for which the severity of their climate may serve as an
excuse, they are far from neglecting the arts of the toilette.
Unlike the Hare Indian and Dog-Rib females, in whom the hard rule of
their lords and masters has obliterated every trace of female vanity,
the Esquimaux women tastefully plait their straight, black, and glossy
hair; and hence we may infer that greater deference is paid to them by
the men. They also generally tattoo their chin, forehead, and cheeks,
not, however, as in the South Sea Islands, with elaborate patterns, but
with a few simple lines, which have a not unpleasing effect.
From Bering’s Straits eastward as far as the Mackenzie, the males
pierce the lower lip near each angle of the mouth, and fill the
apertures with labrets of blue or green quartz, or of ivory resembling
buttons. Many also pierce the septum of the nose, and insert a
dentalium shell or ivory needle. Like the Red Indians, they are fond of
beads, but their most common ornament consists in strings of teeth of
the fox, wolf, or musk-ox--sometimes many hundreds in number--which
are either attached to the lower part of the jacket, or fastened as a
belt round the waist.
Their dress is admirably adapted to the severity of their climate. With
their two pair of breeches made of reindeer or seal skin, the outer one
having the hair outside and the inner one next the body, and their two
jackets--of which the upper one is provided with a great hood--with
their water-tight seal-skin boots, lined with the downy skins of birds,
and their enormous gloves, they bid defiance to the severest cold,
and even in the hardest weather pursue their occupations in the open
air whenever the moon is in the sky, or during the doubtful meridian
twilight. The women are perfect in the art of making water-tight
shirts, or “kamleikas,” of the entrails of the seal or walrus, which
in summer serve to replace their heavy skin jackets. They also sew
their boots so tight that not the slightest wet can penetrate, and with
a neatness of which the best shoemaker in Europe might be proud. The
dress of the two sexes is much alike, the outer jacket having a pointed
skirt before and behind, but that of the females is a little longer.
The women also wear larger hoods, in which they carry their children;
and sometimes (as in Labrador) the inner boot has in front a long,
pointed flap, to answer the same purpose.
The Esquimaux are equally expert in the construction of their huts. As
soon as the lengthening days induce the tribes about Cape Bathurst and
the mouth of the Mackenzie to move seaward on the ice to the seal-hunt,
a marvellous system of architecture comes into use, unknown among any
other American nations. The fine pure snow has by that time acquired,
under the action of the winds and frosts, sufficient coherence to form
an admirable light building material, which the Esquimaux skillfully
employ for the erection of most comfortable dome-shaped houses. A
circle is first traced on the smooth surface of the snow, and slabs for
raising the walls cut from within, so as to clear a space down to the
ice, which is to form the floor of the dwelling, and whose evenness
was previously ascertained by probing. The slabs for the dome are cut
from some neighboring spot. The crevices between the slabs are plugged
up, and the seams closed, by throwing a few shovelfuls of loose snow
over the fabric. Two men generally work together, and when the dome
is completed the one within cuts a low door and creeps out. The walls
being only three or four inches thick, admit a very agreeable light,
which serves for ordinary purposes; if more is required, a window of
transparent ice is introduced. The proper thickness of the walls is of
some importance; one of a few inches excludes the wind, yet keeps down
the damp so as to prevent dripping from the interior. The furniture
of this crystal hut is also formed of snow (the seats, the table, the
sleeping-places), and, when covered with skins, is very comfortable.
By means of antechambers and porches, with the opening turned to
leeward, warmth is insured, and social intercourse facilitated by
contiguous building, doors of communication, and covered passages. By
constant practice the Esquimaux can raise such huts almost as quickly
as we could pitch a tent. When M’Clintock for a few nails hired four
Esquimaux to build a hut for his party, they completed it in an hour,
though it was eight feet in diameter and five and a half feet high.
In spite of its fragile materials, this snow-house is durable, for the
wind has little effect on its dome-like form, and it resists the thaw
until the sun acquires a very considerable power. Of course a strong
fire could not possibly be made within, but such is not needed by the
Esquimaux. The train-oil lamp suffices to dry his wet clothes and
boots when he returns from hunting; and the crowding of the inmates
engenders a sufficiently high temperature to keep him warm. Having also
a decided predilection for raw flesh and fat, he requires no great
expenditure of fuel to cook his dinner. The lower part of his dwelling
being under the surface of the snow, likewise promotes its warmth.
But of whatever materials the hut of the Esquimaux may be constructed--
of snow, as I have just described, or, as is frequently the case, of
stones, or earth, or drift-wood--everywhere, from Bering’s Straits
to Smith Sound, it is equally well adapted to the climate and to
circumstances. Thus when Dr. Scoresby landed in 1822 on the eastern
coast of Greenland, he discovered some deserted Esquimaux huts, which
gave proof both of the severity of the climate, and of the ingenuity
evinced in counteracting its rigors. A horizontal tunnel about fifteen
feet long, and so low as to render it necessary to creep through on
hands and feet, opens with one end to the south, and leads through the
other into the interior of the hut. This rises but little above the
surface of the earth, and, as it is generally overgrown with moss or
grass, is scarcely to be distinguished from the neighboring soil. The
floor of the tunnel is frequently on a level with that of the hut, but
often also it is made to slant downward and upward, so that the colder,
and consequently heavier, air without is still more effectually kept
off from the warmer air within; and thus the Esquimaux, without ever
having studied physics, make a practical use of one of its fundamental
laws. But their most ingenious invention is unquestionably that of
the one-seated boat, the “kayak,” or the “baidar.” A light, long, and
narrow frame of wood, or seal or walrus bone, is covered water-tight
with seal-skin, leaving but one circular hole in the middle. In this
the Esquimaux sits with outstretched legs, and binds a sack (which is
formed of the intestines of the whale, or of the skins of young seals,
and fits in the opening) so tightly round his middle, that even in a
heavy sea not a drop of water can penetrate into the boat. Striking
with his light oar (which is paddled at each extremity) alternately
to the right and to the left, his spear or harpoon before him, and
maintaining his equilibrium with all the dexterity of a rope-dancer,
he flies like an arrow over the water; and should a wave upset him, he
knows how to right himself by the action of the paddle. The “oomiak,”
or women’s boat, likewise consists of a frame-work covered with
seal-skins, and is roomy enough to hold ten or twelve people, with
benches for the women who row or paddle. The mast supports a triangular
sail made of the entrails of seals, and easily distended by the wind.
The men would consider it beneath their dignity to row in one of these
omnibus boats; they leave this labor entirely to the women, who, to the
tact of a monotonous song, slowly propel the oomiak through the water.
Judging of foreign customs by their own, the Esquimaux between the
Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers made the strange mistake, as Sir John
Richardson relates, of supposing that the English sailors whom they saw
rowing in company were women. One of them even asked whether all white
females had beards.
The weapons of the Esquimaux, and their various fishing and hunting
implements, likewise show great ingenuity and skill. Their oars are
tastefully inlaid with walrus-teeth; they have several kinds of spears
or darts, adapted to the size of the various animals which they hunt;
and their elastic bows, strongly bound with strings of seal-gut, drive
a six-foot arrow with unerring certainty to a distant mark. To bring
down a larger animal, the shaft is armed with a sharp flint or a
pointed bone; if intended to strike a bird, it is smaller, and blunted.
The harpoons and lances used in killing whales or seals have long
shafts of wood or of the narwhal’s tooth, and the barbed point is so
constructed that, when the blow takes effect, it is left sticking
in the body of the animal, while the shaft attached to it by a
string is disengaged from the socket, and becomes a buoy of wood.
Seal-skins, blown up like bladders, are likewise used as buoys for the
whale-spears, being adroitly stripped from the animal so that all the
natural apertures are easily made air-tight.
With equal industry and skill the Esquimaux put to use almost every
part of the land and marine animals which they chase. Knives,
spear-points, and fish-hooks are made of the horns and bones of
the deer. The ribs of the whale are used in roofing huts or in the
construction of sledges, where drift-timber is scarce. Strong cord is
made from strips of seal-skin hide, and the sinews of musk-oxen and
deer furnish bow-strings, or cord to make nets or snares. In default of
drift-wood, the bones of the whale are employed for the construction of
their sledges, in pieces fitted to each other with neatness, and firmly
sewed together.
During the long confinement to their huts or “igloos” in the dark
winter months, the men execute some very fair figures in bone, and in
walrus or fossil ivory, besides making fish-hooks, knife-handles, and
other instruments neatly of these materials, or of metal or wood.
Thus in all these respects the Esquimaux are as superior to the Red
Indians as they are in strength and personal courage; and yet no
Norwegian can more utterly despise the filthy Lapp, and no orthodox
Mussulman look down with greater contempt upon a “giaour,” than the
Loucheux or Cheppewayan upon the Esquimaux, who in his eyes is no
better than a brute, and whom he approaches only to kill.
In his “Voyage to the Coppermine River” Hearne relates a dreadful
instance of this bloodthirsty hatred. The Indians who accompanied
him having heard that some Esquimaux had erected their summer huts
near the mouth of that river, were at once seized with a tiger-like
fury. Hearne, the only European of the party, had not the power to
restrain them, and he might as well have attempted to touch the heart
of an ice-bear as to move the murderous band to pity. As craftily and
noiselessly as serpents they drew nigh, and, when the midnight sun
verged on the horizon, with a dreadful yell they burst on the huts of
their unsuspecting victims. Not one of them escaped, and the monsters
delighted to prolong the misery of their death-struggle by repeated
wounds. An old woman had both her eyes torn out before she received
the mortal blow. A young girl fled to Hearne for protection, who used
every effort to save her, but in vain. In 1821 some human skulls lying
on the spot still bore testimony to this cruel slaughter, and the name
of the “Bloody Falls,” given by Hearne to the scene of the massacre,
will convey its memory to distant ages. No wonder that the hate of the
Esquimaux is no less intense, and that they also pursue the Indians,
wherever they can, with their spears and arrows, like wild beasts.
“Year after year,” says Sir John Richardson, “sees the Esquimaux on
the Polar coast of America occupied in a uniform circle of pursuits.
When the rivers open in spring, they proceed to the rapids and falls
to spear the salmon, which at that season come swimming stream upward.
At the same time, or earlier in more southern localities, they hunt
the reindeer, which drop their young on the coasts and islands while
the snow is only partially melted. Where the open country affords the
huntsman no opportunity of approaching his game unperceived, deep
pits are dug in the snowy ravines, and superficially covered with
snow-tablets. The wind soon effaces the traces of the human hand, and
thus many reindeer are snared.”
In summer the reindeer are killed partly by driving them from islands
or narrow necks of land into the sea, and then spearing them from
their kayaks, and partly by shooting them from behind heaps of stones
raised for the purpose of watching them, and imitating their peculiar
bellow or grunt. Among the various artifices which they employ for this
purpose, one of the most ingenious consists in two men walking directly
_from_ the deer they wish to kill, when the animal almost always
follows them. As soon as they arrive at a large stone, one of the men
hides behind it with his bow, while the other, continuing to walk on,
soon leads the deer within range of his companion’s arrows.
The multitudes of swans, ducks, and geese resorting to the morasses of
the northern coasts to breed, likewise aid in supplying the Esquimaux
with food during their short but busy summer of two months. For their
destruction a very ingenious instrument has been invented. Six or
eight small balls made of walrus-tooth and pierced in the middle are
separately attached to as many thongs of animal sinew, which are tied
together at the opposite end. When cast into the air the diverging
balls describe circles--like the spokes of a wheel--and woe to the
unfortunate bird that comes within their reach.
On the coasts frequented by whales, the month of August is devoted to
the pursuit of these animals; a successful chase insuring a comfortable
winter to a whole community. Their capture requires an association of
labor; hence along the coasts of the Polar Sea the Esquimaux unite
their huts into villages, for whose site a bold point of coast is
generally chosen, where the water is deep enough to float a whale.
When one of these huge creatures is seen lying on the water, a dozen
kayaks or more cautiously paddle up astern of him, till a single canoe,
preceding the rest, comes close to him on one quarter, so as to enable
the men to drive the spear into the animal with all the force of both
arms. This spear has a long line of thong and an inflated seal-skin
attached to it. The stricken whale immediately dives; but when he
re-appears after some time, all the canoes again paddle towards him,
some warning being given by the seal-skin buoy floating on the surface.
Each man being furnished like the first, they repeat the blow as often
as they find an opportunity, till perhaps every line has been thus
employed. After chasing him in this manner sometimes for half a day, he
is at length so wearied by the resistance of the buoys and exhausted
by loss of blood as to be obliged to rise more and more often to the
surface, and is finally killed and towed ashore.
Though in many parts seals are caught at every season of the year,
yet the great hunt takes place in spring, when they play in the open
lanes near the coasts, or come out on the ice to bask in the sun.
In spite of their wariness, they are no match for the Esquimaux,
who have carefully studied all their habits from infancy. Sometimes
the hunter approaches them by imitating their forms and motions so
perfectly that the poor animals are not undeceived until one of them
is struck with his lance; or else, by means of a white screen pushed
forward on a sledge, the hunter comes within range and picks out the
best-conditioned of the band. As the season draws near midsummer, the
seals are more approachable; their eyes being so congested by the glare
of the sun that they are sometimes nearly blind. In winter they are
assaulted while working at their breathing-holes or when coming up for
respiration.
If an Esquimaux has any reason to suppose that a seal is busy gnawing
beneath the ice, he immediately attaches himself to the place, and
seldom leaves it, even in the severest frost, till he has succeeded in
killing the animal. For this purpose he first builds a snow-wall about
four feet in height, to shelter him from the wind, and seating himself
under the lee of it, deposits his spears, lines, and other implements
upon several little forked sticks inserted into the snow, in order to
prevent the smallest noise being made in moving them when wanted. But
the most curious precaution consists in tying his own knees together
with a thong so securely as to prevent any rustling of his clothes,
which might otherwise alarm the animal. In this situation a man will
sit quietly sometimes for hours together, attentively listening to any
noise made by the seal, and sometimes using the “keep-kuttuk” in order
to ascertain whether the animal is still at work below. This simple
little instrument--which affords another striking proof of Esquimaux
ingenuity--is merely a slender rod of bone (as delicate as a fine
wire, that the seal may not see it), nicely rounded, and having a point
at one end and a knob at the other. It is inserted into the ice, and
the knob remaining above the surface, informs the fisherman by its
motion whether the seal is employed in making his hole; if not, it
remains undisturbed, and the attempt is given up in that place. When
the hunter supposes the hole to be nearly completed, he cautiously
lifts his spear (to which the line has been previously attached), and
as soon as the blowing of the seal is distinctly heard--and the ice
consequently very thin--he drives it into him with the force of both
arms, and then cuts away with his “panna,” or well-sharpened knife,
the remaining crust of ice, to enable him to repeat the wounds and
get him out. The “neituk” (_Phoca hispida_), being the smallest seal,
is held, while struggling, either simply by hand, or by putting the
line round a spear with the point stuck into the ice. For the “oguke”
(_Phoca barbata_), the line is passed round the man’s leg or arm; and
for a walrus, round his body, his feet being at the same time firmly
set against a hummock of ice, in which position these people can, from
habit, hold against a very heavy strain. A boy of fifteen is equal
to the killing of a “neituk,” but it requires a full-grown person
to master either of the larger animals. This sport is not without
the danger which adds to the excitement of success, particularly if
the creature struck by the hunter be a large seal or walrus; for woe
betide him if he does not instantly plant his feet firmly in the ice,
and throw himself in such a position that the strain on the line is
as nearly as possible brought into the direction of the length of the
spine of his back and axis of his lower limbs. A transverse pull from
one of these powerful animals would double him up across the air-hole,
and perhaps break his back; or if the opening be large, as it often
is when the spring is advanced, he would be dragged under water and
drowned.
As the Polar bear is as great a seal-hunter as the Esquimaux, one of
the usual methods employed by the latter to catch these bears is to
imitate the motions of the seal by lying flat on the ice until the
bear approaches sufficiently near to insure a good aim; but a gun is
necessary to practise this stratagem with success. Seeman (“Voyage
of the Herald”) mentions another ingenious mode of capturing the
bear by taking advantage of the well-known voracity of the animal,
which generally swallows its food without much mastication. A thick
and strong piece of whalebone, about four inches broad and two feet
long, is rolled up into a small compass, and carefully enveloped in
blubber, forming a round ball. It is then placed in the open air at a
low temperature, where it soon becomes hard and frozen. The natives,
armed with their knives, bows, and arrows, together with this frozen
bait, proceed in quest of the bear. As soon as the animal is seen, one
of the natives discharges an arrow at it; the monster, smarting from
this assault, chases the party, then in full retreat, until, meeting
with the frozen blubber dropped in his path, he greedily swallows it,
and continues the pursuit--doubtless fancying that there must be more
where that came from. The natural heat of the body soon causes the
blubber to thaw, when the whalebone, thus freed, springs back, and
frightfully lacerates the stomach. The writhing brute falls down in
helpless agony, and the Esquimaux, hurrying to the spot, soon put an
end to his sufferings.
The Esquimaux of Smith Sound hunt the bear with the assistance of
their dogs, which are carefully trained not to engage in contest
with the bear, but to retard his flight. While one engrosses his
attention ahead, a second attacks him in the rear, always alert, and
each protecting the other; and thus it rarely happens that they are
seriously injured, or that they fail to delay the animal until their
masters come up. If there be two hunters, the bear is killed easily;
for one makes a feint of thrusting a spear at the right side, and as
the animal turns with his arms towards the threatened attack, the left
is unprotected, and receives the death-wound. But if the hunter is
alone, he grasps the lance firmly in his hands, and provokes the animal
to pursue him by moving rapidly across its path, and then running
as if to escape. But hardly is its long, unwieldy body extended for
the chase, than, with a rapid jump, the hunter doubles on his track,
and runs back towards his first position. The bear is in the act of
turning after him again, when the lance is plunged into the left side
below the shoulder. So dexterously has this thrust to be made, that an
unpractised hunter has often to leave his spear in the side of his prey
and run for his life; but even then, if well-aided by the dogs, a cool,
skillful man seldom fails to kill his adversary.
While the seal, narwhal, and white whale furnish the staple food of
the more southern Greenlander, the walrus is the chief resource of the
Smith Sound Esquimaux. The manner of hunting this animal depends much
on the season of the year. In spring, or the breeding-season, when the
walrus is in his glory, he is taken in two ways. Sometimes he has risen
by the side of an iceberg, where the currents have worn away the floe,
or through a tide crack, and, enjoying the sunshine too long, finds
his retreat cut off by the freezing up of the opening; for like the
seal, the walrus can only work from below at his breathing-hole. When
thus caught, the Esquimaux, who with keen hunter-craft are scouring
the floes, scent him out by their dogs and spear him. Frequently the
female and her calf, accompanied by the grim-visaged father, are seen
surging, in loving trios, from crack to crack, and sporting in the
openings. While thus on their tour, they invite their vigilant enemies
to the second method of capture. This also is by the lance and harpoon;
but it often becomes a regular battle, the male gallantly fronting the
assault, and charging the hunters with furious bravery. In the fall,
when the pack is but partially closed, the walrus are found in numbers,
hanging around the neutral region of mixed ice and water, and, as this
becomes solid with the advance of winter, following it more and more to
the south.
The Esquimaux at this season approach them over the young ice, and
assail them in cracks and holes with harpoon and line. This fishery,
as the season grows colder, darker, and more tempestuous, is fearfully
hazardous. Kane relates how, during a time of famine, two of his
Esquimaux friends, Awaklok and Myouk, determined to seek the walrus
on the open ice. They succeeded in killing a large male, and were
returning to their village, when a north wind broke up the ice, and
they found themselves afloat. The impulse of a European would have
been to seek the land; but they knew that the drift was always most
dangerous on the coast, and urged their dogs towards the nearest
iceberg. They reached it after a struggle, and, by great efforts, made
good their landing, with their dogs and the half-butchered carcass of
the walrus. It was at the close of the last moonlight of December, and
a complete darkness settled around them. They tied the dogs down to
knobs of ice, to prevent their losing their foothold, and prostrated
themselves, to escape being blown off by the violence of the wind. At
first the sea broke over them, but they gained a higher level, and
built a sort of screen of ice. On the fifth night afterwards, so far
as they could judge, one of Myouk’s feet was frozen, and Awaklok lost
his great toe by frost bite. But they did not lose courage, and ate
their walrus-meat as they floated slowly to the south. It was towards
the close of the second moonlight, after a month’s imprisonment, such
as only these iron men could endure, that they found the berg had
grounded. They liberated their dogs as soon as the young ice could bear
their weight, and attaching long lines to them, which they cut from the
hide of the dead walrus, they succeeded in hauling themselves through
the water-space which always surrounds an iceberg, and reaching safe
ice. They returned to their village like men raised from the dead, to
meet a welcome, but to meet famine along with it.
In the form of their bodies, their short pricked ears, thick furry
coat, and bushy tail, the dogs of the Esquimaux so nearly resemble the
wolf of these regions, that when of a light or brindled color, they
may easily at a little distance be mistaken for that animal; but an
eye accustomed to both, perceives that the wolf always keeps his head
down and his tail between his legs in running, whereas the dogs almost
always carry their tails handsomely curled over the back. Their hair in
the winter is from three to four inches long; but besides this nature
furnishes them during this rigorous season with a thick under-coating
of close, soft wool, which enables them to brave the most inclement
weather. They do not bark, but have a long melancholy howl, like that
of the wolf. When drawing a sledge, they have a simple harness of deer
or seal skin going round the neck by one bight, and another for each of
the fore legs, with a single thong leading over the back, and attached
to the sledge as a trace. Though they appear at first sight to be
huddled together without regard to regularity, considerable attention
is really paid to their arrangement, particularly in the selection
of a dog of peculiar spirit and sagacity, who is allowed by a longer
trace to precede the rest as leader, and to whom, in turning to the
right or left, the driver usually addresses himself, using certain
words as the carters do with us. To these a good leader attends with
admirable precision (especially if his own name be repeated at the same
time), looking behind over his shoulder with great earnestness, as if
listening to the directions of the driver, who sits quite low on the
fore part of the sledge, his whip in hand, and his feet overhanging the
snow on one side.
On rough ground, as among hummocks of ice, the sledge would be
frequently overturned if the driver did not repeatedly get off, and, by
lifting or drawing it to one side, steer it clear of those obstacles.
At all times, indeed, except on a smooth and well-made road, he is
pretty constantly employed thus with his feet, and this, together with
his never-ceasing vociferations and frequent use of the whip, renders
the driving of one of these vehicles by no means a pleasant or easy
task.
“The whip,” says Kane, who from assiduous practice at length attained
a considerable proficiency in its use, “is six yards long, and the
handle but sixteen inches--a short lever to throw out such a length of
seal-hide. Learn to do it, however, with a masterly sweep, or else make
up your mind to forego driving sledges; for the dogs are guided solely
by the lash, and you must be able to hit not only any particular dog
of a team of twelve, but to accompany the feat also with a resounding
crack. After this you find that, to get your lash back, involves
another difficulty; for it is apt to entangle itself among the dogs and
lines, or to fasten itself cunningly round bits of ice, so as to drag
you head over heels into the snow. The secret by which this complicated
set of requirements is fulfilled consists in properly describing an
arc from the shoulder with a stiff elbow, giving the jerk to the
whip-handle from the hand and wrist alone. The lash trails behind
as you travel, and when thrown forward is allowed to extend itself
without an effort to bring it back. You wait patiently, after giving
the projectile impulse, until it unwinds its slow length, reaches the
end of its tether, and cracks to tell you that it is at its journey’s
end. Such a crack on the ear or fore foot of an unfortunate dog is
signalized by a howl quite unmistakable in its import.”
The mere labor of using this whip is such that the Esquimaux travel
in couples, one sledge after the other. The hinder dogs follow
mechanically, and thus require no whip; and the drivers change about so
as to rest each other.
In the summer, when the absence of snow prevents the use of sledges,
the dogs are still made useful, on journeys and hunting excursions, by
being employed to carry burdens in a kind of saddle-bags laid across
their shoulders. A stout dog thus accoutred will accompany his master
laden with a weight of about twenty or twenty-five pounds.
The scent of the Esquimaux dog is excellent, and this property is
turned to account in finding the seal-holes, which they will discover
entirely by the smell at a very great distance. The track of a single
deer upon the snow will in like manner set them off at full gallop at
least a quarter of a mile before they arrive at it, and with the same
alacrity they pursue the bear or the musk-ox. Indeed, the only animal
which they are not eager to chase is the wolf, of which they seem to
have an instinctive dread, giving notice at night of their approach to
the huts by a loud and continued howl.
In spite of their invaluable services, they are treated with great
severity by their masters, who never caress them, and, indeed, scarcely
ever take any notice of them except to punish them. But notwithstanding
this rough treatment, the attachment of the dogs to their masters is
very great, and this they display, after a short absence, by jumping up
and licking their faces all over with extreme delight.
It may be supposed that among so cheerful a people as the Esquimaux
there are many games or sports practised. One of their exhibitions
consists in making hideous faces by drawing both lips into the mouth,
poking forward the chin, squinting frightfully, occasionally shutting
one eye, and moving the head from side to side as if the neck had been
dislocated.
Another performance consists in repeating certain words with a
guttural tone resembling ventriloquism, staring at the same time in
such a manner as to make their eyes appear ready to burst out of their
sockets with the exertion. Two or more will sometimes stand up face
to face, and, with great quickness and regularity, respond to each
other, keeping such exact time that the sound appears to come from
one throat instead of several. They are fond of music, both vocal and
instrumental, but their singing is not much better than a howl.
The Esquimaux have neither magistrates nor laws, yet they are orderly
in their conduct towards each other. The constitution of their society
is patriarchal, but there is no recognition of mastership except such
as may be claimed by superior prowess. The rule of the head of a
family lasts only as long as he has vigor enough to secure success in
hunting. When his powers of mind and body are impaired by age, he at
once sinks in the social scale, associates with the women, and takes
his seat in the oomiak. They rarely quarrel among themselves, and
settle their disputes either by boxing, the parties sitting down and
striking blows alternately until one of them gives in, or before a
court of honor, where, after the accuser and the accused have richly
abused and ridiculed each other, the case is decided by the priests
or “angekoks.” These wonder-workers, who enjoy a great reputation as
sorcerers, soothsayers, or medicine-men, employ ventriloquism, swallow
knives, extract stones from various parts of their bodies, and use
other deceptions to impress their dupes with a high opinion of their
supernatural powers. Like the members of the learned professions
elsewhere, they have a certain language or jargon of their own, in
which they communicate with each other. The heathen Esquimaux do not
appear to have any idea of the existence of one Supreme Being, but
believe in a number of spirits, with whom on certain occasions the
angekoks pretend to hold mysterious intercourse. Even in Old Greenland
the influence and teachings of the missionaries have not entirely
obliterated the old superstitions, and the mysteries of the angekok,
though not openly recognized near the Danish settlements, still hold
their secret power over many a native who is professedly a Christian.
Captain Hall highly praises the good-nature of the Esquimaux; but in
their behavior to the old and infirm they betray the insensibility,
or rather inhumanity, commonly found among savage nations, frequently
abandoning them to their fate on their journeys, and allowing them to
perish in the wilderness.
Among themselves “Tiglikpok” (he is a thief) is a term of reproach, but
they steal without scruple from strangers, and are not ashamed when
detected, nor do they blush when reproved. Parry taxes them with want
of gratitude; and though they have no doubt rendered good services
to many of our Arctic navigators, yet sometimes, when they fancied
themselves the stronger party, they have not hesitated to attack or to
murder the strangers, and their good behavior can only be relied upon
as long as there is the power of enforcing it.
One of the most amiable traits of their character is the kindness with
which they treat their children, whose gentleness and docility are such
as to occasion their parents little trouble, and to render severity
towards them quite unnecessary. Even from their earliest infancy they
possess that quiet disposition, gentleness of demeanor, and uncommon
evenness of temper for which, in mature age, they are for the most part
distinguished. “They are just as fond of play,” says Parry, “as any
other young people, and of the same kind, only that while an English
child draws a cart of wood, an Esquimaux of the same age has a sledge
of whalebone; and for the superb baby-house of the former, the latter
builds a miniature hut of snow, and begs a lighted wick from her
mother’s lamp to illuminate the little dwelling.”
When not more than eight years old, the boys are taken by their fathers
on their sealing excursions, where they begin to learn their future
business; and even at that early age they are occasionally intrusted to
bring home a sledge and dogs from a distance of several miles over the
ice. At the age of eleven we see a boy with his water-tight boots, a
spear in his hand, and a small coil of line at his back, accompanying
the men to the fishery under every circumstance; and from this time his
services daily increase in value to the whole tribe.
In intelligence and susceptibility of civilization the Esquimaux are
far superior to the neighboring Indians. They have such a good idea of
the hydrography and bearings of the sea-coasts which they frequent as
to draw accurate charts of them. Thus Parry, in his second voyage, was
guided in his operations by the sketches of the talented Iligliuk; and
while Beechey was at Kotzebue Sound, the natives constructed a chart of
the coast upon the sand, first marking out the coast-line with a stick,
and regulating the distance by the day’s journey. The hills and ranges
of mountains were next shown by elevations of sand or stone, and the
islands represented by heaps of pebbles, their proportions being duly
attended to. When the mountains and islands were erected, the villages
and fishing-stations were marked by a number of sticks placed upright,
in imitation of those which are put up on the coast wherever these
people fix their abode. In this manner a complete hydrographical plan
was drawn from Cape Derby to Cape Krusenstern.
The Esquimaux have a decided predilection for commercial pursuits,
and undertake long voyages for the purposes of trade. Thus on the
continental line of coast west of the Mackenzie, the Point Barrow
Esquimaux proceed every summer, with sledges laden with whale or seal
oil, whalebone, walrus-tusks, thongs of walrus hide, and seal-skins,
to the Colville River, where they meet the Esquimaux from Kotzebue
Sound, who offer them in exchange articles procured from the Tchuktchi
in the previous summer, such as iron and copper kettles, knives,
tobacco, beads, and tin for making pipes. About ten days are spent in
bartering, dancing, and revelry, on the flat ground between the tents
of each party, pitched a bow-shot apart. The time is one of pleasant
excitement, and is passed nearly without sleep. About July 20 this
friendly meeting is at an end: the Kotzebue Sound Esquimaux ascend
the Colville on their way homeward, while those from Point Barrow
descend to the sea, to pursue their voyage eastward to Barter Reef,
where they obtain in traffic from the eastern Esquimaux various skins,
stone lamps, English knives, small white beads, and, lately, guns and
ammunition, which in the year following they exchange for the Kotzebue
Sound articles at the Colville, along with the produce of their own
sea-hunts.
In this manner, articles of Russian manufacture, originally purchased
at the fair of Ostrownoje by the Tchuktchi, or from the factors of the
Russian Fur Company on Sledge Island, in Bering’s Straits, find their
way from tribe to tribe along the American coast as far as Repulse
Bay, and compete among the tribes of the Mackenzie with articles from
Sheffield or Birmingham.
A hunter’s life is always precarious--a constant alternation between
abundance and want; and though the Esquimaux strikes many a seal,
white-fish, or walrus in the course of the year, yet these animals
do not abound at all seasons, and there are other causes, besides
improvidence, which soon exhaust the stores laid by in times of
abundance. Active exercise and constant exposure to cold are remarkable
promoters of atomic change in the human body, and a very large supply
of food is absolutely necessary to counterbalance the effects of a
rapid organic combustion. As a matter of curiosity, Parry once tried
how much an Esquimaux lad would, if freely supplied, consume in the
course of a day. The following articles were weighed before being given
to him: he was twenty hours in getting through them, and certainly did
not consider the quantity extraordinary.
lbs. oz.
Sea-horse flesh, hard frozen 4 4
” ” boiled 4 4
Bread and bread-dust 1 12
-------
Total of solids 10 4
The fluids were in fair proportion, viz., rich gravy soup, 1¼
pint; raw spirits, 3 wine-glasses; strong grog, 1 tumbler;
water, 1 gallon 1 pint.[15]
Kane averages the Esquimaux ration in a season of plenty at eight or
ten pounds a day, with soup and water to the extent of half a gallon,
and finds in this excessive consumption--which is rather a necessity
of their peculiar life and organization than the result of gluttony--
the true explanation of the scarcity from which they frequently suffer.
In times of abundance they hunt indomitably without the loss of a day,
and stow away large quantities of meat. An excavation is made either
on the mainland--or, what is preferred, on an island inaccessible to
foxes--and the flesh is stacked inside and covered with heavy stones.
One such cache which Kane met on a small island contained the flesh of
ten walruses, and he knew of others equally large. But by their ancient
custom, all share with all; and as they migrate in numbers as their
necessities prompt, the tax on each particular settlement is not seldom
so excessive that even considerable stores are unable to withstand the
drain, and soon make way for pinching hunger, and even famine.